2011雅思阅读模拟考试精选(6).docx

2011雅思阅读模拟考试精选(6) 作者: 日期: A European spacecraft took off today to spearhead the search for another Earth among the stars . The Corot space telescope blasted off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baik onur cosmodrome in Kazakhsta n shortly after 2.20pm Corot , short for convection rotation and planetary transits , is the first instrument capable of finding small rocky planets beyond the solar system . Any such pla net situated in the right orbit sta nds a good cha nee of havi ng liquid water on its surface , and quite possibly life , although a leading scientist involved in the project said it was un likely to find any little gree n men Developed by the French space agency , CNES and partnered by the European Space Age ncy (ESA), Austria , Belgium , Germa ny, Brazil and Spa in , Corot will mon itor around 120,000 stars with its 27cm telescope from a polar orbit 514 miles above the Earth . Over two and a half years , it will focus on five to six different areas of the sky , measuring the brightness of about 10,000 stars every 512 seconds At the present moment we are hoping to find out more about the nature of planets around stars which are potential habitats . We are looking at habitable pla nets , not in habited pla nets . We are not going to find any little gree n men，” Professor Ian Roxburgh , an ESAscientist who has been involved with Corot since its inception , told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme . Prof Roxburgh said it was hoped Corot would find rocky planets that could develop an atmosphere and , if they are the right dista nee from their pare nt star , they could have water . To search for planets , the telescope will look for the dimming of starlight caused when an object passes in front of a star , known as a transit . Although it ,Corot will letwill take more sophisticated space telescopes planned in the next 10 years to confirm the presence of an Earth-like planet with oxygen and liquid water ,Corot will let to detectMeasurements of minute change